Luxury brands extend into lifestyle and hospitality segments
15 September 2023, Mumbai
The good life nowadays is no longer confined to what you wear in fashion garments and accessories but is far more inclusive in taking pleasure in new things in home and social environments and more unique and immersive experiences in everyday living, fueled by a new generation of affluent consumers.
Showcasing
The realization of the unpredictability of life during COVID-19 has extended a long arm of luxury living into better home goods and furnishings as well as the hospitality and tourism sector for personalized experiences for a better lifestyle.
The Business of Fashion (BoF)- an online information platform for the global fashion industry and related professionals –has recently brought out a report called ‘The Lifestyle Era’, which will help luxury brands capitalize on home and hospitality segments of the $4.3 trillion lifestyle sector.
This huge segment targets affluent High Net Work Individuals (HNWIs) who place greater value on the spaces where they live, work socialize, and travel.
Surveys highlight expanding brand universes
The premium fashion and lifestyle segments are expanding their brand universes into new avenues at a compound annual rate of around 7 percent through 2026, states Euromonitor International in an effort to cash in on the hidden opportunities.
The BoF report feels that over 30 percent of the surveyed HNWIs, see branded hospitality experiences as a growth driver for purchasing the brand’s home goods.
PhyDigital
As the world continues on a hybrid work model and people prefer to party at home with close friends, many are investing in sprucing up their home environments with branded décor and furnishings.
According to a proprietary survey by Altiant and BoF Insights, many well-heeled customers in Western countries, such as the US, UK, and France are spending far more on furniture, decor, textiles, fragrances, and tableware, which is almost 12 percent higher than before the pandemic.
Many high-end trade fairs such as the Salone del Mobile, an annual furniture and design fair recently held in Milan, Italy have included luxury brands showing interest and engagement in the lifestyle sector along with the usual fashion garment and apparel brands that participate every year.
Similar to Milan Fashion Week, the Design Week trade fair offers these brands a platform to create a buzz about lifestyle and home décor, after having already been showstoppers in fashion catwalks over the years.
Showstopper premium brands enter the lifestyle bandwagon
A plethora of luxury brands have now joined the bandwagon of the home goods and furnishing segment a distinctive USP that sets it apart. The opulent French Hermès who are known for their iconic silk scarves and high-end leather goods, has recently forayed into the home goods market with a collection of exquisite tableware, textiles, and home fragrances.
Versace Home as a leading Italian luxury brand is turning heads with its home furnishings portfolio of furniture, lighting, textiles, and tableware that showcases the brand's iconic Medusa logo and signature baroque.
The Italian fashion giant Armani is now showcasing its Armani/Casa sophisticated collection of furniture and home accessories that exude the brand's hallmark minimalistic elegance and superior craftsmanship, along with foraying into real estate just outside of Miami in the US.
Rich & famous
The Fendi Casa upscale furniture and home accessories segment is also now hugely popular in elite homes of the rich and famous.
The high-end hospitality market is now being flooded by luxury brands with a plethora of exclusive dining and accommodation experiences for their rich clientele.
Marquee brands; Among them are the luxury jewelry brand Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, the French luxury conglomerate LVMH expansion with its ultra-luxurious Cheval Blanc hotels, and fashion icon Giorgio Armani brand with their Armani Hotels & Resorts in select upscale cities around the world.
Luxury brands are focusing on expanding their brand universe to offer a better lifestyle beyond what we wear, since we may as well live life to the full if our purse strings are loose.
